The Effect Of Income Inequality On The Middle-aged And The Elderly Residents

According to the certificating standards of the WHO,China has entered the era of aging.Much attention has been paid to the health crisis of the middle-aged and the elderly.The factors that lead to the health crisis in the middle and the old age are very extensive,and the most important one is income inequality.In order to reflect the impact of income inequality on health of the old age,this article conducted a study on the relationship between income inequality and health,based on the data of urban and rural residents collected by Shandong University,University of Queensland and Melbourne University Australia in 2015.First,based on the literature review domestic and overseas,things that current income inequality and health status of the middle-aged and the elderly in China were analyzed using data collected in 2015.At the same time,statistical analysis was performed using the data,which leads a conclusion that there are gender,age,urban-rural differences in the health of the old age,where women's health level of rural residents is higher;the effect of father's or mother's death on health of the old age has less differences,meanwhile,the number of children hinders the raise of health level;high education level raises health level;the social and economic factors are the most important factors related to the health of the old age.Second,this paper used the Gini coefficient of income inequality as a proxy variable,added to the Ordered Probit model,and the regression model results show that China's income inequality affects the health of the middle-aged and the elderly in an inverted "U" curve.When the Gini coefficient is bigger than the critical value of 0.43,the effect of income inequality on health in the middle-aged and the elderly is negative.While the Gini coefficient is less than the critical value of 0.43,the income inequality has a positive effect on the health in the middle-aged and the elderly.Ages,nationalities,number of children,father's death have a significant negative impact on the health of the middle-aged and the elderly,while the level of employment,family wealth,education and the number of ways that can be used after the savings are exhausted play a significant role in promoting health.Third,this paper argues that savings are a cumulative variable of income inequality and with a Null model I verified that the inequality of savings decomposes the effect of income inequality on the health of the middle-aged and the elderly.At the same time,by means of marginal utility analysis,the effect of savings on different health assessment of the middle-aged and the elderly is quantified.Empirical results show that savings as a proxy variable of cumulative income inequality has a negative impact on the health of the middle-aged and the elderly,that is that savings gap will bring the decline of the health level of the elderly.Finally,basing on the full text,to deal with income inequality and to improve the middle-aged and the elderly's health status,the task to us is enhancing national income,enhancing confidence of increasing savings,helping to expand intergenerational financial aids and so on.